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Tuesday, 16 September 2014

Falmer Pond, After School and Beach at Twilight

"Falmer Pond" :- The village of Falmer sits (approx) 5 miles or 8 kilometers north-east of Brighton and (approx) 4 miles or 6.43 kilometers south-west of Lewes and is actually in the Lewes District of East Sussex. It's an ancient village that apparently was given to the wife (named Gundred) of the 1st Earl of Surrey (William de Warenne) after the Norman Conquest. The village is now divided in two by the main A27 road with a footbridge joining the two halves. The name of the village "Falmer" is old English for 'fallow (pale-coloured) pond' and is named after the large village pond that you see in this image. It was a fresh January day when I shot this back in 2012. Annoyingly a white van was parked by the opposite bank but I ended up taking the shot anyway as it gave some scale to the scene.

"After School" :- This old, ruined structure was once a Victorian mission church and school deep in the heart of West Sussex in England. It was constructed in 1880 and served the village of Bedham for many years up until 1959 when it was finally abandoned and left for nature to consume. The ruin now sits on land that is part of a 395 acre nature reserve which is open to the public. It's reasonably well documented but even with a sat nav I had trouble locating the eerie building and ended up coming across it purely by accident as I had given up and was on my way out of the area when I happened upon it. It's more of an unnerving experience than I thought as you walk around it. A place that use to be full of people, young and old now covered in moss and looking very sorry for itself in the middle of nowhere.

"Beach at Twilight" :- A shot from November 2013 as I was walking back along the beach towards the city of Brighton from the neighbouring town of Hove on the Sussex coast. A watery looking moon had popped up in the East and was looming over the famous seaside resort as the sunset in the west had turned the sky to a mixture of purple and pink hues. The beaches at Brighton & Hove are notorious for their pebbles but when the tide goes out enough the shoreline opens up to reveal glistening sand. The pebbles are 15 feet or 4.57 meters deep in places and are vital for the survival of both Brighton & Hove as without them the sea would eventually take them over.